Through a Rebel's Eyes
by NordicBeauty
Summary: Rinoa Caraway, at 14 years of age, left her father's house. What was she seeking? Why did she leave? What inspired her to join the Timber Resistance? And what did Caraway think of all this? The story has never been told, till now.
1. Chapter 1

Rinoa Caraway had decided to run away. It's not that she was being mistreated by her dad, quite the opposite. He provided for her material needs. She was well-fed and well-clothed. She was fairly disciplined. Not even she could find a flaw in her father grounding her from the computer for a week after she didn't do her biology homework. Though she'd never admit it out loud the extra push had helped her bring up her biology grade. She was well-fed, well-clothed and fairly disciplined. That's what a father's for, right? So why was it that every girl she knew spent special time with her dad? Sandy's dad took her fishing, Kendra's dad went shopping with her and Alexis's dad made sure to help her with her homework every night. Rinoa's dad essentially ignored her. She had decided to try to make things right before taking the drastic step of running away. The week before her decision to run away she had slipped into her father's study.

"What is it Rinoa? I'm busy."

She'd make this quick. She played with one of her braids. "Daddy, I'm having problems with my history homework. Was Centra involved in the Barbarian War?"

"I'm not going to do your homework for you."  
"I don't want you to do my homework for me I just want you to help. Alexis's dad helps her."  
"Then go over to Alexis's house."

_Maybe I will_. She kept playing with the braid, making her look a few years younger than her fourteen years. "But was Centra involved?"  
"Centra invaded Esthar after they were weakened by an invasion of Trabian barbarians. It's an extremely obscure fact and I'm shocked your teacher even brought it up. Now go away and stop bothering me."

"Yes, sir." She said quietly. _If I ran away, would you care_?

The next day she asked him to take her fishing. He said he was too busy, maybe some other time. No self-respecting Galbadian general worked on the weekends so Rinoa asked once again if she could go fishing with him on Saturday.

"Lord, Rinoa, why are you being so needy? Are your pregnant? I will disown you if you're pregnant."

She blushed as red as a cherry. "No, I'm not pregnant." She bit her tongue before 'neglectful bastard' could slip out of her mouth. "Do I need an _excuse _to want to hang out with my dad?"

"It just seems like you could find ways to amuse your own self without me."

_Most fathers WANT to spend time with their children_. "I just want to go fishing with you. Or…or anything really."

"Well, I can't today. I promised an old friend that we'd hang out."

"M-maybe tomorrow?" She asked, a hint of hope-and a little bit of desperation-creeping into her voice.

"Sure." He answered.

But he didn't. He brought home his "old friend"-a woman, of course, and they fucked till dawn. Rinoa could hear them from her room and knew that the woman he'd just brought home would be getting far more attention from her father than she ever would. In the morning he was hung over. He didn't even bring up the fishing trip. The very next day she walked into her father's study and told him she was running away. He was silent for a few minutes.

_Come on, explode, yell, ground me for a year for even suggesting it, spank the daylights out of me ,just let me know you CARE_, she silently begged. He shrugged.

He shrugged. She told him she was running away and he fucking shrugged. She clenched her fists. "I mean it. You'll never see me again."  
"Bye then."  
She felt like he'd stabbed her in the heart.

_Maybe I'm not even his real daughter? What if Mom had a wild, torrid affair with someone?_

"Do you…do you care?"  
"You're just doing this for attention. You'll be back by supper."  
"No, I won't." She stormed out, slamming the study door shut.

She was going to run away. Where? She couldn't care less. Not Galbadia where her father or his men could easily find her. Galbadia, however had many obscure provinces and she spoke the language and quite a few dialects. She was particularly proficient in the Timber dialect, having had a friend from there.

_Timber. I'll go to Timber._ With this thought she boarded a train and left Deling City far behind her.

…

Caraway's annoyance with his daughter was turning into alarm. She had missed supper. Rinoa Caraway _never _missed supper. Even for a cry for attention-and for some reason she had been needy lately-this was way too far. _What if she's been kidnapped?_ He thought, panicked at the thought. By midnight he was seated in his chair waiting for her, a belt in his hand. If she wanted attention she'd get attention. She'd be lucky if she were sitting down next week. By one he put his belt back on deciding that wasn't the best way to handle the situation. That'd only drive her further away. By one-thirty he'd called the cops to report her as missing. There was one place that was so impoverished and crime ridden, however, that cops never went there. The backwater province of Timber.


	2. The Tactician

Rinoa Caraway had never been in Timber and she was unprepared for it. The buildings were dirty and grey. Everything looked run down. She stepped off the train and immediately wanted to step back on. She knew Timber was poor, but after living among the opulence of her father's mansion, she didn't really understand what poverty was. She wanted to go back to Deling City, rush into her father's arms and beg his forgiveness.

_No. He doesn't care about you_. She bitterly reminded herself as she started walking through the town. She realized she stood out to much with her rich, jewel-embroidered clothes so she decided to go to a store and pick up some more simple clothes. As she walked out the store she noticed a commotion. Two Galbadian soldiers were dragging a man through the streets. A crowd was gathering around them. They dragged the man to the center of the city and one of the soldiers put a gun to his head.

"Any last words?" The soldier asked. Rinoa watched spell-bound in horror as she at last realized she was witnessing a public execution.

"Yes. I have some last words." The man said. "But not for you. For my people." He spoke of freedom, of dignity for his people, of rising up against oppression and the horrors of military rule. Rinoa willed herself to look away as the soldier shot him. She continued walking, shocked by what she had just seen.

_So, this is the face of Galbadian imperialism. This is what my father's been fighting for. _

She noticed two men standing in an alleyway. They looked upset and were talking loudly. She kept catching the word "resistance." She walked up to the men.

"Hi, are you…are you guys with the Timber Resistance?" She disguised her Deling City accent with a (she hoped) convincing Timber dialect.

"We are the Forest Owls." One of the men answered. "I'm Zone and this is Watts. The man who just got shot was the last of the Forest Deer. We've been losing a lot of resistance fighters."

She hesitated. "I would like to join you."

She never could remember how she ended up in a dilapidated train that doubled as a base, seated around a map, plotting blowing up the train line that Galbadian soldiers were using. But the next week she, Zone and Watts, under the cover of darkness and dressed entirely in black, planted bombs by the railway. Every week they started doing this. She was praised by the other Owls for her strategic brilliance in plotting the successful attacks. She'd never been praised in her life. The attacks continued. Her life fell into a steady rhythm of planning attacks, studying strategy and fleeing from Galbadian soldiers. Months passed and the Occupation of Timber had been severely disrupted. Galbadia was working on repairing the trains, but the Owls wouldn't let them. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. One day Zone and Rinoa were walking through Timber. They sat down on a bench together.

"It's been a wild ride hasn't it, Rinoa?" He asked. Rinoa nodded.

"It has been." She was distracted by a man walking along holding his daughter's hand.

_Dad…do you miss me_?

Zone noticed her staring after the man. "You know him?"  
"N-no I don't. I just…he reminded me of my dad."

"Oh." Now Zone seemed to become distant. "My dad was executed by the Galbadians."

Rinoa winced. "I'm sorry." She wondered if she should tell him. "Me and my dad don't have the best relationship. You know I'm a runaway right?"

"Yeah."

"He was just very distant. Didn't care about me."  
"I'm sorry about that." Zone looked away. "My dad was…was just a really loving kind of guy."

She noticed he had tears in his eyes. She hugged him. "I'm sorry."  
"Don't be." He said, though he didn't resist the hug. "I'll get revenge one day."

Rinoa nodded. This week they were going to pull off their biggest scheme yet. They were going to blow up the largest, military-use railroad in Timber. She knew it'd be guarded, but the Owls had prepared for that. So, that night they dressed in black and travelled till they came to the military use railroad. Five, heavily armed soldiers were guarding it. Khas, a Forest Owl that was well-trained in magic, held out his hand. A wave of fire engulfed one of the soldiers. The four remaining soldiers opened fire as the Owls took cover behind a building. One of the soldiers rushed over to the building, his sword drawn. Rinoa fired her weapon, hitting him in the knee. He tripped. Rinoa and Zone came out from behind the building and opened fire on the soldiers.

"Three of them left, five of us. Let's do this!" Zone cried. As Rinoa and Zone continued firing the three other Owls used the distraction to get to the railway and plant the bombs. Khas cried out as a soldier shot him in the leg. Watts picked him up, and then signaled to Rinoa and Zone that the bombs had been planted. She signaled they should leave. The Owls quickly fled, turning only to fire at the Galbadian soldiers.

"Is Khas alright?" Cried Rinoa.

"He'll be fine!" Said Watts.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the streets. Rinoa looked around and smiled at a job well done. Flames were devouring the railroad.

"Rinoa, is that you?!" A voice cried out. Standing in front of her was her father.


End file.
